Recently in Nonfiction Category

From the Associated Press:

NEW YORK -- The 60th annual National Book Awards was a night to celebrate literature and to wonder about its future.

Lifetime achievement winner Gore Vidal envisioned only pulp and dust Wednesday as he contemplated the state of books, while fellow honorary winner Dave Eggers declared that we live in a golden age. The evening's host, Andy Borowitz, joked that the meaning of publishing was "a lot of hard work. Then nothing."

As the e-book march advances, both Eggers and fiction winner Colum McCann insisted that paper texts were stronger than ever. McCann won the fiction prize for "Let the Great World Spin," a novel about daring, luck and mortality in the pre-digital world of 1970s New York.

Scott Mingus' new book, "The Louisiana Tigers.'

More than a dozen books have been written on York County in the Civil War in the past 10 years.

Add another one: Scott Mingus' newest work "The Lousiana Tigers in the Gettysburg campaign."

For a mini-review of the book, visit: York County's Widow Zinn to Confederate Gen. Jubal Early in new Louisiana Tigers' book: 'Are you goin' to destroy us?'

Columbia Malleable Casting Corporation workers at Second and Linden streets in Columbia are shown on the cover of the new book 'Columbia, Marietta and Wrightsville.' Molds they will use to produce iron castings are in the foreground of this Columbia Historic Preservation Society photo.

Arcadia Publishing has released a new photo book 'Columbia, Marietta and Wrightsville' whose name describes its contents.

For a mini-review about Frederic H. Abendschein's book on those river towns, click here.

Best-sellers at Borders Books & Music in Springettsbury Township for the week that ended Nov. 1.

1. "The Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown.
2. "Have a Little Faith" by Mitch Albom.
3. "The Gathering Storm" by Robert Jordan.
4. "In a Perfect World" by Laura Kasischke.
5. "The Big Burn" by Timothy Eagen.

The Paul Smith Library of Southern York County will collect new and used paperback books during November for shipment to American troops overseas.

The library is one of several collection points for the Sertoma Club's book drive for Operation Paperback, a Pennsylvania non-profit that has shipped nearly one million books to troops over the last decade. Other local drop-off sites include the YMCA Southern Branch and the Mason-Dixon Public Library.

Donations should be marked for Operation Paperback and dropped off during normal library hours.

The Paul Smith Library is at 80 Constitution Ave. in Shrewsbury.

Naomi Hughlett will sign her book, "Moved by Compassion," 12:30 to 4 p.m. Nov. 21 at Border's Books and Music, 3000 Whiteford Road in Springettsbury Township.

She also will give a book talk at 6 p.m. Nov. 22 at The House Of Prayer Church, 5430 Davidsburg Road, Dover.

York county resident and physician Lisa Marcucci is senior editor of "Avoiding Common Nursing Errors," which lists and discusses 500 common errors that nurses make, each with a 1-2 page discussion of how and why the error is usually made.

It is the fifth in a 10-book series covering practitioner errors across the medical spectrum.

Published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, the book costs $39.95 and is available at lww.com, amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com.

Spring Garden Township resident David Salter has written "Final Four Leadership," which gives five secrets successful female leaders use.

The book profiles the coaches of elite women's basketball teams and discusses their leadership and how others can learn from them.

The book sells for $13.99 with a portion of proceeds donated to the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund.

It is available at www.davidfsalter.com.

Best-sellers at Borders Books & Music in Springettsbury Township for the week that ended Oct. 25.

1. "The Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown.
2. "In a Perfect World" by Laura Kasischke.
3. "Have a Little Faith" by Mitch Albom.
4. "The Big Burn" by Timothy Egan.
5. "Arguing with Idiots" by Glenn Beck.

Spring Grove resident Norman Fulkerson has written "An American Knight: The Life of Colonel John W. Ripley USMC."

The book was published Oct. 28, one year after the passing of Col. Ripley, who was known for his service in Vietnam.

For details or to buy the book for $14.95 plus shipping, visit www.AmericanKnight.org or call 888-317-5571.

Best-sellers at Borders Books & Music in Springettsbury Township for the week that ended Oct. 11.

1. "The Last Symbol" by Dan Brown.
2. "Have a Little Faith" by Mitch Albom.
3. "Arguing with Idiots" by Glenn Beck.
4. "Say You're One of Them" by Uwem Akpan.
5. "In a Perfect World" by Laura Kasischke.

DEBORAH SULLIVAN
On the Shelves

In times of war, when an army wanted to dominate another town, it would destroy the town's library, erasing its history. The conquerors would then write a new town history explains author Stuart A.P. Murray, in his recent book "The Library: An Illustrated History."

Just in from the Associated Press:

NEW YORK -- Tycoons, evolution and the environment are among the subjects of this year's National Book Award nominees.

Marcel Theroux's global warming novel "Far North" and T.J. Stiles' "The First Tycoon," a biography of Cornelius Vanderbilt, were some the finalists announced Wednesday. Two books about evolution, including a story for young people about Charles Darwin, were also nominated.

Winners in the four competitive categories of the National Book Awards will be announced at a Nov. 18 ceremony in New York.

From the Associated Press:

NEW YORK -- A critical work on black intellectuals and an anthology of the late Chicano poet Jose Antonio Burciaga are among this year's winners of American Book Awards.

The awards, now in their 30th year, are given for outstanding work of multicultural literature and are sponsored by the nonprofit educational organization, the Before Columbus Foundation.

Recipients announced Tuesday included Houston A. Baker's "Betrayal: How Black Intellectuals Have Abandoned the Ideals of the Civil Right Era," "The Last Supper of Chicano Heroes: Selected Works of Jose Antonio Burciaga" and Claire Hope Cummings' "Uncertain Peril: Genetic Engineering and the Future of Seeds."

Why would a young American woman want to live in Tehran? Azadeh Moaveni has many reasons.

In "Honeymoon in Tehran" she explains them -- she works as a Middle East correspondent for Time Magazine; she has roots in Iran, her parents having emigrated from there to the United States before she was born. Her extended family of aunts and cousins in Iran help with housing and lend moral support. And, most important, she meets an Iranian man she wants to marry.

But it is 2005, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has just been elected and as the government cracks down, life gets uncomfortable for many Iranians and for Moaveni.

Best-sellers at Borders Books & Music in Springettsbury Township for the week that ended Sept. 20.

1. "The Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown.
2. "True Compass" by Edward Kennedy.
3. "The Last Song" by Nicholas Sparks.
4. "Say You're One of Them" by Uwem Akpan.
5. "The Glass Castle" by Jeanette Walls.

The guidance counselor for Wellsville and South Mountain Elementary schools has written and published a book chronicling his experience adopting a little boy.

Troy Strausbaugh and wife Tara adopted 7-year-old Noah from Catholic services a few years ago. Their experience was so positive, Troy decided to write a book with illustrations by retired Northern art teacher Donna Barlup. The picture book, "Adoption Is A Loving Choice," is now available at www.xlibris.com.

By BETH VRABEL
For the Daily Record/Sunday News

If a writer's book is his baby, well, then Anthony Fredericks has a lot of babies. As in 118 of them, not counting the half-dozen or so manuscripts currently in gestation.

"I can possibly tell you the titles of the last 10," Fredericks said with a laugh.

Each book, from the first -- "The Reading Comprehension Idea Book" for teachers, printed in 1983 -- to the last, "A is for Anaconda," a children's book published this year -- has been a stepping stone to the next manuscript, Fredericks said.

From the Associated Press:

MIAMI -- Juanita Castro, the exiled sister of Cuban leaders Fidel and Raul Castro, is set to release a first-person memoir in which she talks at length about her brothers.

The more than 400-page book entitled: "My Brothers Fidel and Raul. The Secret Story," is set for release Oct. 26. It is co-written by Spanish-language journalist Maria Antoineta Collins and will be published by Santillana USA.

Juanita Castro left the island in 1964. A longtime Miami resident, she has kept a low profile and for years could be found behind the counter of the small pharmacy she owned. She retired in 2007.

According to a Santillana news release, Castro dictated the story to Collins a decade ago but refused to publish until now.

From the Associated Press:

BOSTON -- A new book about a man accused of killing a masseuse he met through Craigslist includes an account by a Las Vegas woman allegedly robbed at gunpoint by him.

"Seven Days of Rage: The Deadly Crime Spree of the Craigslist Killer," was written about Philip Markoff by Boston Globe reporter Maria Cramer and Paul LaRosa, a producer for the CBS newsmagazine "48 Hours."

A review from reader Loretta Martin:

When a news alert flashed on CNN on June 13, 2005, announcing that a jury had reached a verdict in Jackson's molestation trial, Halperin thought American legal history was about to be made. He was sure justice would be served, that this would not be another O.J. Simpson travesty where a celebrity had gotten away with murder.

From the Associated Press:

LONDON -- She was known for much of her life as the queen mother. And according to her official biography, she detested it.

"Horrible name," she wrote in a 1953 letter to her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II.

Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, died in 2002 at the advanced age of 101. The official account of her life by royal biographer William Shawcross runs past 1,000 pages and divulges the queen mother's opinions on topics ranging from feminism to homeopathy.

Author Jonah Lehrer has family in York. He will be in town in October for a talk at Martin Library.

By BETH VRABEL
For the Daily Record/Sunday News

Jonah Lehrer's credentials might be intimidating. After all, he was a Rhodes Scholar to Oxford University, in addition to being a Columbia graduate. He's a contributing editor to Wired and Scientific American Mind. The New Yorker, The Washington Post and the Boston Globe have all carried his byline.

But, just like the rest of us, he gets sent to the grocery store with a list from his spouse.

Unlike the rest of us, such trips inspire a widely acclaimed book.

In a previous Book Buzz post, we wrote about Bob Ketenheim's postcard history book about Glen Rock.

Not long ago, the Glen Rock Carol Singers published a revised history.

Now comes another book about this southern York County borough. "Glen Rock -- A Historical Review" will be published next year as part of Glen Rock's 150th anniversary.

For details, click on Books about Glen Rock abound, and there's a lot of history to write about.

From the Associated Press:

NEW YORK -- Three poets, two fiction writers and a nonfiction writer have won $25,000 prizes given annually to emerging women authors.

Poets Vievee Francis, Janice Harrington and Heidy Steidlymayer; fiction writers Lori Ostlund and Helen Phillips; and nonfiction writer Krista Bremer are this year's recipients of the Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Awards. The awards were announced Wednesday.

Previous winners of the award, founded in 1995, include ZZ Packer and Lan Samantha Chang.

In the past, Bob Ketenheim has put forth photo books on Shrewsbury and New Freedom.

Now, it's Glen Rock's turn. For details, click here.

Best-sellers at Borders Books & Music in Springettsbury Township for the week that ended Aug. 23.

1. "The Weight of Silence" by Heather Gudenkauf.
2. "The Time Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger.
3. "Dreamfever" by Karen Marie Moning.
4. "Glenn Beck's Common Sense" by Glenn Beck.
5. "South of Broad" by Pat Conroy.

From the Associated Press:

NEW YORK -- Sen. Edward Kennedy did not live to see his dream of universal health care passed, but he did complete a cherished and more personal project: his memoir.

"True Compass," the greatly awaited summation of his life and career, comes out Sept. 14 with an announced first printing of 1.5 million copies. Kennedy, diagnosed with a brain tumor in May 2008, just months after his book deal was announced, died Tuesday night at age 77.

Hanover YWCA is accepting used books for its annual used book sale Nov. 6, 7 and 8. Books can be brought to the YW at 23 W. Chestnut St. and placed in the "book box" located in front of the building. Please no encyclopedias, Readers Digest condensed books or magazines. Books should be in good condition and placed in bags or boxes.

Philip K. Eberly's "Susquehanna Radio, The First 50 Years" is not a new book.

But it's a moment to recommend this 1992 publication, considering the recent death of Mr. Eberly, a pioneering regional radio exec.

The learn more about the book, its author and where to get a copy, click here.

Last week I persuaded my husband to go with me to see "Julie & Julia." The movie is based on two books -- "Julie & Julia" by Julie Powell and "My Life in France" by Julia Child.

Susan Orlean's "The Orchid Thief" is the journalist's tale about a man who was convicted of poaching orchids from state lands in Florida -- and about how certain people are driven by their passions. It was loosely adapted to film in Charlie Kauffman-penned and Spike Jonze-directed "Adaptation."

The main narrative of the story follows John Laroche, the man who, along with two Seminoles, went into the Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve to find and remove rare orchids. His plan was to breed them -- make them widely available, "save" them from other people needing to attempt to remove them, and make a lot of money doing it.

Reader Loretta Martin reviews "Jokes My Father Never Taught Me" by Rain Pryor with Cathy Crimmins:

I found this a fascinating read from cover to cover.

Rain was 4 years old when she first met her father, comedian Richard Pryor, in 1973. As a girl who grew up adoring her father even as she feared him, Rain gives an intimate memoir.

It's quite frank and gives insight into the man as she knew him right through his death from MS in 2005.

Karl Larew of New Park has written "Paul, Betty and Pearl." According to Larew, the novel is the first book in a trilogy that traces an Army family's experiences from World War II through the Vietnam War. He says, "It is based on my research as a professional historian inside the Army and outside, and on some of my family's experiences."

Larew is a retired history professor. His book is $14.95 and can be purchased from amazon.com.

Waln K. Brown has co-authored "Growing Up in the Care of Strangers: The Experiences, Insights and Recommendations of Eleven Former Foster Kids." Brown was born in York and graduated from York Suburban Senior High School in 1963. He spent years in the York County Juvenile Court, experiencing multiple placements, including an orphanage and juvenile home. His story is one of the 11 written by college-educated child welfare professionals.

Brown's book sells for $27.95 and can be ordered at www.williamgladdenfoundation.org.

Paula Morton, who lived in York County for more than 20 years, has written "Tabloid Valley: Supermarket News and American Culture." Her book takes a look at how publications such as the National Enquirer and Weekly World News changed American journalism. The book contains dozens of photographs.

"Tabloid Valley" is $16.47 and can be purchased from amazon.com or the University Press of Florida, its publisher, at www.upf.com.

Lonnie Mounts of Red Lion is the author of "Twin Deception." The novel is available for $14.95 from PublishAmerican.com.

Professional organizer Debbie Jordan Kravitz of York Township has written "Everything I Know About Perfectionism I Learned From My Breasts: Secrets and Solutions for Overpowering Perfectionism."

The book is available for $19.95 from Kravitz's publishing company at www.malizapublishing.com.

A review from reader Loretta Martin:

I definitely wanted to know what made Madonna such a phenomenon, and who better to tell me than her brother?

For 47 years Christopher was very close to Madonna, playing an important role in her life as her backup dancer, personal assistant, dresser, decorator, art director and tour director. It was Madonna who made him realize he was gay. And it was Madonna who made it possible for him to travel all over the world with her on her tours and special appearances.

"Hooked for Life: Adventures of a Crochet Zealot" by Mary Beth Temple hooked (ha, ha) me right away because I learned to crochet at my mother's knee as soon as I was old enough to hold a hook.

Unlike Temple, I am not a zealot. My recent crocheting (say for the past 35 years) has been restricted to scarves and dishcloths because, well, I'd rather read than crochet.

So this was perfect -- I could read about crocheting.

Reader Loretta Martin reviews "Crazy for the Storm, A Memoir of Survival" by Norman Ollestad:

Ollestad recounts his life as he recalls a plane crash in February 1979 which took the life of the pilot, Ollestad's father and Sandra, his father's girlfriend, leaving the 11-year-old boy to fend for himself as he manages to escape alive.

Two York area women have stories published in "Chicken Soup for the Soul" collections.

Joyce Seabolt of Red Lion has written two stories, "Sister/Survivor" and "Tough Task," which appear in "Chicken Soup for the Soul: Tough Times, Tough People."

"A Time to Remember," by Georgia Shaffer of Mount Wolf, appears in "Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Cancer Book."

Patrick Radden Keefe will speak and sign copies of his new book, "The Snakehead: An Epic Tale of the Chinatown Underworld and the American Dream," from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday at the York County Heritage Trust Historical Society Museum, 250 E. Market St.

Below, Byron Borger, owner of Hearts & Minds bookstore in Dallastown, writes about the book and his own experiences:

I can remember the conversation like it was yesterday. I recall planning the subsequent protest/prayer vigil at York County Prison, the guns aimed at us there on Concord Road, the impromptu press conference. I recall the natural leadership of my dear friend and local United Methodist pastor, Joan Maruskin as she stepped -- pushed by the Spirit, she might say -- into the local and national limelight.

I will never forget the gladness in the moment we met the savvy and passionate -- -ticked off with righteous indignation, he might say --- small town lawyer, Craig Trebilcock. It was obvious that he was willing and able to speak to prison officials and TV reporters and the array of religious human rights advocates gathered at the prison.

It was early August 1993. It was one of the most important days in my life as it started an involvement with the local support group, People of the Golden Vision, gathered to demand fair asylum hearings for dozens of Chinese immigrants detained by the INS, sent oddly to our central Pennsylvania prison.

When "The Snakehead" author Patrick Keefe writes of that day, halfway through his sprawling epic of organized crime in Chinatown, climaxing in the study of human smuggling, including the Golden Venture detainees, my hands shook.

Best-sellers at Borders Books & Music in Springettsbury Township for the week that ended July 12.

1. "Glenn Beck's Common Sense" by Glenn Beck.
2. "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" by Steig Larsson.
3. "Swimsuit" by James Patterson.
4. "Angel's Game" by Carl Zafon Ruiz.
5. "Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows" by J. K. Rowling.

Best-sellers at Borders Books & Music in Springettsbury Township for the week that ended July 5.

1. "Swimsuit" by James Patterson.
2. "Finger Lickin' Fifteen" by Janet Evanovich.
3. "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson.
4. "Angel's Game" by Carl Ruiz Zafon.
5. "Glenn Beck's Common Sense" by Glenn Beck.

Scott Butcher's 'Gettysburg Perspectives.'

Prolific York author/photographer has written what one reviewer says is "one of the best, if not the best, photographic anthologies of Gettysburg."

And he has other books on the way.

For details, click here.

Jim Hubley's 'Off the Record.'

The York County Heritage Trust has received copies of longtime York Daily Record/Sunday News columnist Jim Hubley's "Off the Record."

The book, a collection of the late columnist's work, was previously believed to be out of print.

For more details and information about purchasing the book, click here.

Thomas (Wally) Clarke of Spring Garden Township has written "General George S. Patton's Typical Soldier."

Clarke's account of his experiences as a World War II combat infantryman includes maps, photos and battle descriptions. Letters to his parents and siblings are interspersed throughout the text.

Best-sellers at Borders Books & Music in Springettsbury Township for the week that ended June 21:

1. "Horse Soldiers" by Doug Stanton.
2. "The Angel's Game" by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.
3. "My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult.
4. "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" by Mary Ann Shaffer.
5. "Cook Yourself Thin" by Lifetime TV.

Celia Rivenbark does not cover new territory in "Belle Weather, Mostly Sunny with a Chance of Scattered Hissy Fits," but when you read it you won't care.

Her tales of domestic life in North Carolina are like Erma Bombeck's but with an edge. Chapters on her home renovations, "duh Hubby" and the Princess (her 9-year-old daughter) will have you chuckling, sometimes out loud.
Rivenbark is not your goody two-shoes southern wife and mom. Well, mostly she is, but she writes with a twang and a zing that perk up the ordinary PTA meetings and summer beach vacations of her life. I personally could have done without the s-word when she used it a few times; it didn't fit. But maybe that's just me.
Still, I enjoyed her tales of family and friends. Rivenbark's columns occasionally run in the York Daily Record/Sunday News.
Read a couple chapters of this book at the end of a long hard day and she'll have you smiling as you fall asleep. And that's not so bad, is it?

From the Associated Press:

ATLANTA -- Four books that have been long out of print by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. will be published again under a new deal with Beacon Press brokered by King's youngest son.

Best-sellers at Borders Books & Music in Springettsbury Township for the week that ended June 14:

1. "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" by Mary Ann Shaffer.
2. "Horse Soldiers" by Doug Stanton.
3. "The Shack" by Wm. Paul Young.
4. "Matters of the Heart" by Danielle Steel.
5. "When You are Engulfed in Flames" by David Sedaris.

To read a review of "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society," click here.

I'm reading "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan.

Wow. It really makes me think about what I'm putting into my mouth.

I know most people don't want to do that, but there's really a lot of food for thought in this book (ha, ha).

More later.

From the Associated Press
Another Obama relative has a book deal.
A memoir by George Obama, the president's half brother and a resident of Huruma, Kenya, will be published by Simon & Schuster in January 2010. George Obama, 27, shares the same father with his famous, older half sibling, although George and Barack Obama -- 20 years apart in age -- did not grow up together and did not meet as children.
Little is known about George Obama. The book, tentatively titled "Homeland" and to be written with author-journalist Damien Lewis, will tell of George Obama's fall into crime and poverty as a teenager and his eventual embrace of community organizing -- a passion shared by the president -- and of advocacy for the poor, an identification so strong that he chooses to live among them.

Long-time York County lawyer Jeffrey C. Bortner has penned a lively look at York County's legal community.

And it provides useful information for serious inquirers about the local bar in the past 50 years.

For details about his work, available via York County libraries, click here.

From the Associated Press:

NEW YORK -- The setting was divine -- a duplex on the Upper East Side. The featured speaker, Nobel laureate Toni Morrison.

The subjects: sex, violence and profanity.

In other words, the stuff that books are banned for.

June Grove is an expert on York County family history.

So her recent book "The Heffner Family of York County, PA, and Associated Families" will be a resource for scores of York countians.

For details, click here.

Some people just seem to string words together better than most of us. Rick Bragg is one of those people.
This beautifully written book tells the story of Bragg's father, a poor hillbilly of Alabama, who was an alcoholic and scofflaw, the "prince" of his milltown, Frogtown.

York resident Scott Mingus Sr. has written "Gettysburg Glimpses: True Stories from the Battlefield." He also is the author of six other books on the Civil War.

"Gettysburg Glimpses" is available at amazon.com and www.xlibris.com for $19.99.

A review from reader Nancy Duncan:

The middle place is not a great place to be

I'm referring to the book "The Middle Place" by Kelly Corrigan. She describes this as the time in life where you are an adult with a spouse and children, but you are still a child of your own parents.

From the Associated Press:

Former eBay chief executive Meg Whitman, a presumed candidate for governor of California, is working on a book about the "core values" that helped her build the online commerce giant.

The book, currently untitled, is scheduled to be published by Crown Business in February, just as California starts voting for its next governor. Financial terms were not disclosed, but Whitman will donate all of her earnings to charity.

Whitman, 52, joined eBay in 1998, when the company had just 30 employees. By the time she stepped down last year, eBay was a multibillion dollar company with more than 15,000 workers.

David Kushner's "Levittown."

David Kushner tells the story of York, Pa.'s Bill and Daisy Myers and the discrimination they faced after moving into a new house in Bucks County's Levittown in 1957.

Kushner's 2009 work draws from - and expands upon by bringing in many other sources -Daisy Myers' 2005 memoir "Sticks 'n Stones."

For more, click on the post: New book 'Levittown' tells about the Myers family's quest to live the American dream - in York, Pa., too.

Anita Cherry of Spring Garden Township has written "Letters to Sam." She says her book is "a poetic telling to her adopted daughter of the author's reflections on early-adulthood ovarian cancer, infertility and recurring thyroid cancer, and moving beyond the pain to celebrate life and growth.

The cover of the book is an original painting done by Cherry in 1981.

She will sign her book during the American Cancer Society Relay for Life June 12 and 13 at York County School of Technology.

Copies of her book, at $11.95, can be purchased at Collage, the York Health Boutique for Women at Apple Hill, the office of Dr. Scott Cherry, 955 S. George St., York; the American Cancer Society and amazon.com.

Bob Ketenheim will sign copies of his new pictorial history book, "Around Glen Rock," on the following dates:

· 10 a.m. Saturday at the Paul Smith Library of Southern York County, 80 Constitution Ave., Shrewsbury.

· noon to 3 p.m. May 17 at the American Legion of Glen Rock, 4035 Manchester St. in Glen Rock.

John D. Fair's work covers the storied growth of York Barbell.

Steroids use is back in the news with allegations that superstar Alex Rodriguez used the illegal drug as a member of the New York Yankees.

In "Muscletown U.S.A.," John D. Fair comprehensively covers Bob Hoffman and his company, York Barbell, and all they meant in the world of bodybuilding and weightlifting. He also writes about the York and York Barbell connection to early steroid use in sports. The Rodriguez controversy comes on the 10th anniversary of the publication of Fair's Penn State Press book.

For details about Fair's work and a York Daily Record/Sunday News story on the local steroids story, click here.

Sarah Byrn Rickman's book "The Originals" covers York native Aline Rhonie and other pilots of the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron in World War II.

The book has been around a few years but contains interesting material on female pilots who played an important role in World War II.

Aline Rhonie was one of the pilots. For more on this Renaissance woman, click here.

From the Associated Press:

LONDON -- A first edition of Charles Darwin's "On the Origin of Species" book sold for about 40,000 pounds ($60,000) today, an auctioneer said.

The work, still in its original embossed green binding, was bought by local book dealer Hamish Riley-Smith, said Keys auctioneer Andrew Bullock.

Written for a lay audience, "The Origin of Species" outlined Darwin's theory of natural selection, which in turn provided the foundation for the modern understanding of evolution.

Keys, a Norwich, England-based auction house, said the book was one of 1,250 copies first printed in 1859.

This is a bumper year for Darwin fans, who are celebrating the 200th anniversary of the scientific luminary's birth. Celebrations earlier this year included a landmark exhibition at London's Natural History Museum, prayers at Darwin's tomb in Westminster Abbey, and a host of parties, lectures, and exhibits around the world.

The 150th anniversary of the publication of "The Origin of Species" is Nov. 24.

This is a must-have for the Beatles fan, edited by June Skinner Sawyers; Penguin books paperback.

Think of this book as an MP3 version of the Beatles story. It's made up of bits and pieces, lots of them, from interviews the Beatles gave, to excerpts of their biographies and reviews of their music. A few writers even touch on WHAT IT ALL MEANS. In short, there is something for everyone.

From reader Nicki Stiger, a review of "Special Education":

Since switching careers from being a writer to a special education teacher, I have been trying to devour as many memoirs and nonfiction books about the subject as possible. I came across "Special Education: One Family's Journey Through the Maze of Learning Disabilities," by Dana Buchman.

In these tough economic times, publishers are finding readers are more willing to purchase paperback editions of works by new authors.

To read more, click here.

Deb Sullivan
On the Shelves

Master gardener Pat Sweetman of Shrewsbury sees a trend -- more Americans are planning to grow their own vegetables this summer because of the economy. She recently attended an herb conference at Stratford Hall in Virginia where it was a frequent topic of conversation. She said many people plan to grow an extra row for the hungry.

The William Penn Senior High School boys ....

... and York Catholic's state title runs are detailed in forthcoming York Daily Record/Sunday News' books.

The York Daily Record/Sunday News will publish 56-page books with accompanying DVDs on the state championship bids by two accomplished York County high school teams.

For details, click here.

These works come on the heels of a book profiling the West York Bulldog's football season: "Friday Night Bulldogs."

By JOSEPH MALDONADO
For the Daily Record/Sunday News

Despite having published three books and countless newspaper articles, 54-year-old Nathan McCall cannot say how long he has been a writer.

"I wish I could tell you," said McCall. "Even though I have been a professional writer since 1981, there were always days in my life when I felt like I should have been writing and times today when I still feel like I'm not a writer at all."

If the affirmation of his readers is any indication, McCall should have no doubt that he is a writer. And if the excitement that has been generated by his impending visit to York is any indication, he is a well-liked and highly respected author to boot.

On Friday and Saturday, McCall will be a guest speaker of The York City Human Relations Commission and Martin Library. The two groups are collaborating to celebrate April's National Fair Housing Month and National Library Week, April 13-18.

Nancy Duncan, children's librarian at Red Land Community Library, reviews "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle":

What a commitment! The family of novelist Barbara Kingsolver -- two parents, two daughters -- pledges to live off the land for one year, eating only locally grown food and meat. They move from their home in Tucson to a family farm in the Appalachians of Virginia. They start their experiment in March, just when the ground is waking up from winter.

Dr. Philip A. Hoover's book wonderfully explores country doctoring in the 20th century.

It's been 15 years since Philip A. Hoover's "Echoes of the Health Century: A Physician's Memoir" came out.

Its 222 pages are packed with anecdotes about the situations - often humorous, sometimes severe - that a country doctor would often face.

The York Town Square blog post explores one such issue, a pragmatic Pennsylvania Dutch view of teen pregnancy.

The book is available via the York County Library System.

Nancy Duncan, children's librarian at Red Land Community Library, reviews "The Day the World Came to Town":

When U.S. air space was closed immediately after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, 38 commercial airliners, carrying more than 6,000 passengers, were forced to land in Gander, Newfoundland, a town with a population of 10,000.

A new book tells about the West York High School's district champs.

A 56-page book about the West York High School varsity football team's District 3 championship season is being published this month by the York Daily Record/Sunday News and its high school sports Web site, GameTimePA.com.

For details, see:The dogs got out.

Jonah Lehrer, the Rhodes Scholar with local ties, has penned his second book "How We Decide." ...

It has captured comparisons with Malcolm Gladwell's "Blink."

For more, see Author with York ties: Learned the brain inside and out in writing 'How We Decide'.

In April, survivors from Darfur and five previous genocides will join anti-genocide advocates and people of conscience around the world to observe Genocide Prevention Month.

As part of Genocide Prevention Month, organizers have partnered with the American Booksellers Association to provide a list of "Books of Conscience" for suggested reading. The titles selected are based on book-seller recommendations, critical acclaim and sales.

Some of the titles include:

"A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide" by Samantha Power
"Night" by Elie Wiesel
"The Translator: A Memoir" bBy Daoud Hari
"Not on Our Watch: The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond" by Don Cheadle and John Prendergast
"Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda" by Romeo Dallaire

Click here for the full list.

From the Associated Press:

A book coming this fall will offer one of the ultimate inside takes on the economic crisis -- from former Secretary of the Treasury Henry M. Paulson, Jr.

Joan McInnis, librarian for the Daily Record/Sunday News, reviews "Cherie Blair: Speaking for Myself":

From a girlhood in working class Liverpool to wife of Prime Minister Tony Blair at No. 10 Downing Street, Cherie Booth Blair tells her remarkable story.

From the Associated Press
Nobel laureate Al Gore's follow-up to his best-selling "An Inconvenient Truth," originally planned for last spring, is coming out this fall with a new title.
Publisher Rodale Books announced Tuesday that the former vice president's book, "Our Choice," will be released in November, printed on 100 percent recycled paper. The book, which proposes solutions to the global warming crisis documented in "Inconvenient Truth," was called "The Path to Survival" when first announced two years ago.
"An Inconvenient Truth" was published in 2006 and was a companion book to the Academy Award-winning documentary of the same name.

"How We Decide" by Jonah Lehrer was recently reviewed in the New York Times. The book was released in February by Houghton Mifflin. Lehrer also is the author of "Proust Was a Neuroscientist." He is the son of York native Jean Hively.

To read the review, click here.

Just in from the Associated Press:

President Barack Obama, a best-selling author who received royalties of $2.5 million last year, will get hundreds of thousands more for a youth-oriented version of his published memoir and will write a nonfiction book after he leaves the White House.

From the Associated Press:

Stories and scholarship from around the world were honored by book critics Thursday night, including works about the ancient and modern Middle East and a novel set in Mexico, the late Roberto Bolano's "2666."

and that definitely applies to book lovers.

The following Web sites offer used books for purchase or exchange, some for as little as the postage to ship them.

Check them out, and if you know of any others, please let us know.

www.bookmooch.com

www.bookins.com

www.swaptree.com

www.paperbackswap.com

From the Associated Press:
Historian and Harvard University president Drew Gilpin Faust has won a $50,000 prize from the New York Historical Society for "This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War."
Faust, 61, received the fourth annual American History Book Prize, the society announced Tuesday. She has written several other books about the Civil War and the South, including "Mothers of Invention" and "A Sacred Circle."
Previous winners include Doris Kearns Goodwin and David Nasaw.

Following were best-sellers at Borders Books & Music in Springettsbury Township for the week that ended March 1.

1. "Diary of a Wimpy Kid 3 --The Last Straw" by Jeff Kinney.
2. "Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man" by Steve Harvey.
3. "Promises in Death" by J. D. Robb.
4. "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch.
5. "One Day at a Time" by Danielle Steel.

An Afghan bookstore owner, displeased with his portrayal in the best-selling novel "The Bookseller of Kabul," has written his own book telling his angry, bewildered side of the story.

To read more, click here.

York County native Judy Druck Routson has written "The George Druck Family Chronicle, 1741-2008." Her family history links her ancestors' life stories with the history of York County. In addition to the Drucks, who settled in the area named for them, Druck Valley, her book also includes the names Beecher, Billet, Burger, Dunnick, Emenheiser, Klein, Kunkel, Lehman, Mitzel, Sechrist, Seiple, Shaffer, Sipe, Strong and Wambaugh, among others.

Routson grew up in York Township, attended William Penn Senior High School and is a 1959 graduate of Dallastown Area High School. She has been a writer for a central New York weekly newspaper since 1993.

For more about her book, go to www.judyroutson.wordpress.com.

A review from reader Loretta Martin:

Sometimes you read a book review that makes you say to yourself, "Hey, sounds like a good read -- hearing about growing up the daughter of Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher, not to mention being the famous Princess Leia of 'Star Wars' -- all of which supposedly lead her to become an alcoholic with a sense of humor, all on top of being bipolar ..."

Scott Mingus' book "Flames Beyond Gettysburg" is another link in a long chain of Civil War publications dating back to 2000.

That is, books linking York County and the Civil War.

Before 2000, well, the pickings were sparse.

For a working list, see: Stack of books on York County's Civil War past getting higher.

The Horn Farm Center for Agricultural Education and Kreutz Creek Library will sponsor a discussion of "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver at 7 p.m. March 2 at the Kreutz Creek Presbyterian Church social hall, 85 Old Church Lane, west of Hallam.

Participants will taste and discuss food made from recipes in the book.

I recently had a long layoff in finishing any books because I was slowly making my way through Thucydides' "The History of the Peloponnesian War."

His history is rather dense, but quite remarkable for something written in the 5th century B.C.

As for the war itself, it was a long -- about 27 years -- conflict between Greek powers Athens and Sparta and numerous allies on both sides. It started for many reasons, but most notably because of Athens' expansion of its Aegean empire and its friction with Sparta, which felt threatened. The eventual defeat of Athens reshaped Greece.

Unlike an earlier historian, Herodotus (who I wrote about here), Thucydides attempts a chronological, factual account of the war. The author served as a general in the Athenian army for some of the time and seemed to have good sources otherwise, though he fails to name them.

Thucydides appears -- though this has been disputed -- to remain objective in his account and to shun propaganda. He states early on that, "My work is not a piece of writing designed to meet the taste of an immediate public, but was done to last forever."

As a Beatles fan, I open every book about the group or its members with anticipation. So it was with John Lennon The Life. I was not disappointed.

I love cookbooks. That isn't to say I like to cook, I'm more of a baker than a cook. But I love looking at cookbooks, especially ones with glossy photographs. My favorite section to hang out in at libraries and bookstores is the cookbook area.

From the Associated Press:

BOGOTA -- It's a pact they made in the jungle.

The three U.S. military contractors who spent 1,967 days as captives of Colombia's main rebel group agreed they would write their story together.

Now HarperCollins publicist Dee Dee DeBartlo says the publisher's William Morrow imprint will issue their book, "Out of Captivity," on Feb. 26.

From the Associated Press:

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Elizabeth Edwards plans a new book about facing adversity, recapping an often-tumultuous life that most recently included her husband's public disclosure of an affair, her publisher said Tuesday.

The book entitled "Resilience" is to be published on May 12. It comes less than a year after Edwards' husband John publicly acknowledged having an affair with a video producer in the months before he began his second campaign for president.

David Drake, the publicity director at Broadway Books, declined to discuss in detail the contents of the book but said it would serve as a sort of sequel to her previous memoir, "Saving Graces," that was first published in 2006 and updated in 2007.

From the Associated Press:

Obama campaign manager David Plouffe has agreed to a seven-figure deal to write a book about last year's presidential election.

"The Audacity to Win: The Inside Story and Lessons of Barack Obama's Historic Victory" will be published by Viking next fall.

From the Associated Press

Cable television isn't enough for MSNBC's Joe Scarborough. He has a book coming out in May.

Publisher Crown Forum, an imprint of Random House Inc., says the title is "The Last Best Hope: Restoring Conservatism and America's Promise."

Crown Forum says the book will issue a challenge to Scarborough's own Republican Party to either reform or die.
Scarborough hosts MSNBC's "Morning Joe" news-talk program.

Steve McKee's "My Father's Heart" - a poignant story of growing up in York - is due out soon in paperback.

The York Catholic grad's site, www.steve-mckee.com, gives this summary of the book:

"An extraordinary story of an all-too-ordinary scenario: A father dies, a son remains, and the loss casts a long shadow across a generation. Rich in evocative detail of time, place, and family, it is a powerful memoir of love, forgiveness, and finding oneself."

And for those wanting a taste of its contents, click here.

Under my little brother's direction, I read "Generation Kill," a 2004 book written by Rolling Stone reporter Evan Wright, about the 1st Recon Marines who were at the tip of the spear in the 2003 Iraq invasion.

The following books were were best-sellers at Borders Books & Music in Springettsbury Township for the week that ended Jan. 25.

1. "Diary of a Wimpy Kid 3: The Last Straw" by Jeff Kinney.
2. "The Shack" by William Young.
3. " Eat This Not That! Supermarket Survival Guide: the No-Diet Weight Loss Solution" by David Zinczenko.
4. "Dreams From My Father" by Barack Obama.
5. "Spooky York, Pennsylvania" by Scott Butcher.

From the Associated Press:

NEW YORK -- Michelle Obama's brother is working on a book, part tribute to his family and part inspirational guide.

"I've been privileged to know some extraordinary people in my life," Craig Robinson, whose "A Game of Character" will be published next year by Gotham Books, said in a statement issued Thursday. "I've watched as my sister Michelle, a rock of a mother, became a leader in her own right. My brother-in law, President Barack Obama, who I knew from the first time I met him had something special, continues to inspire all of us."

Robinson, who coaches men's basketball at Oregon State University, introduced his sister last summer at the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

Gotham is an imprint of Penguin Group (USA).

York's Visiting Nurse Association just celebrated its 100th anniversary.

And the organization, now VNA Home Health, under Wellspan's umbrella has put forth a booklet recounting its many accomplishments.

Among other things, VNA provided employment and volunteer opportunities for women throughout much of the 20th century. For details, see First York visiting nurse made rounds on bicycle.

"In Search of Bill Clinton: A Psychological Biography," by Johns Hopkins University professor John Gartner, has been named one of the best books of 2008 by Booklist, the official publication of the American Library Association.

To read more about Gartner's book, click here.

From the Associated Press:

Chris Rock is making a comeback, as an author.

Grand Central Publishing says Rock's new book -- not yet titled -- will be full of "comedic observations." It's tentatively scheduled for release next year.

The Lost Ravioli Recipes of Hoboken, a Search for Food and Family by Laura Schenone.

Laura Schenone was a woman on a mission. She wanted to make the family's traditional ravioli, the one served at Christmas. But even after finding the family recipe, she wasn't satisfied.

Following were best-sellers at Borders Books & Music in Springettsbury Township for the week that ended Jan. 4.

1. "Breaking Dawn" by Stephenie Meyer.
2. "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" by J. K. Rowling.
3. "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch.
4. "Flat Belly Diet" by Liz Vaccariello.
5. "Scarpetta" by Patricia Cornwell.

Baron von Steuben's drilling of Continental Army soldiers prepared George Washington's army during the dark days of the American Revolution in Valley Forge.

But no authoritative biography has been written on Steuben since 1937. Until recently.

Paul Lockhart's "The Drillmaster of Valley Forge" is a fresh look at the Prussian military man and offer glimpses into the York County scene, where the Continental Congress was then meeting.

For more on Lockhart's work on Steuben, see York Town Square post: York-commissioned Baron von Steuben credited with shaping up Continental Army.

WEbook.com, the home of community-sourced books, will publish a collection of inauguration stories, told by real people in their own words. Leveraging the speed and agility of the Internet and digital printing by CreateSpace (an Amazon company), the printed book will be available within two weeks of the inauguration.

"Jan. 20, 2009: True Stories, Real People, One Day" will be sold on WEbook.com and Amazon.com for $9.99. WEbook will donate all profits and ask its authors to donate their royalties to 826 National, a nonprofit tutoring, writing and publishing organization that assists students ages 6 to 18 with their writing skills and helps teachers get their classes excited about writing.

Following were best-sellers at Borders Books & Music in Springettsbury Township for the week that ended Dec. 28:

1. "Eclipse" by Stephenie Meyer.
2. "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" by J.K. Rowling.
3. "Breaking Dawn" by Stephenie Meyer.
4. "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch.
5. "The Christmas Sweater" by Glenn Beck.

By JOSEPH MALDONADO
Daily Record/Sunday News

There comes a point when even the best man, the strongest man, fighting for a cause he fully believes in, can perilously teeter upon a thin mental wire; for the winds of war blow with deceptive force upon those trying to balance themselves above the afflictions of their duty and the unsettling cries of an unstained field to lay down arms and hurt no more.

So is the story of Fighting Bucktail Angelo Crapsey.

A co-worker suggested I read "Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World" by librarian Vicki Myron. I asked for it for Christmas.

I opened it Dec. 25 (Thursday) and was finished with it two days later despite working on Friday and visiting family on Saturday. I like to think I have amazing cats, and in all fairness to them, I do. But if you have a place in your heart for cats, you'll love Dewey.

I told my aunt, a mommy to three cats, about the book. I know she will love it. She is a library lover. She searched the catalog at the New York Public library, where she lives, and she is 240th on the waiting list for 43 copies of the book.

Dewey really must have touched the world.

Read here about Dewey and another pet-lover's book.

A review from one of our readers, Loretta Martin:

Walking past the book section of Wal-Mart the other day, I noticed a book with a title that caught my eye: "23 Minutes in Hell" by Bill Wiese.

Being a big believer in heaven, and having reading some pretty compelling testimonials of some people who have "visited" there, I immediately grabbed it so I could read about people who have "visited" the other side.

I'm talking about the Internet. People who have grown up with the Internet, as opposed to people like me who had to "learn" it, are much more likely to turn to the web in all things.

This was illustrated to me in "Harry, A History," by Melissa Agnelli. The Harry in the title refers to Harry Potter. Melissa Agnelli became the editor of the Leaky Cauldron, the most popular and well-respected fan site for all things Harry Potter.

From the Associated Press:

NEW YORK -- The Bernard Madoff books are in the works.

Less than one week after the former chairman of the Nasdaq Stock Market was arrested for an alleged multibillion dollar Ponzi scheme, publishers HarperCollins and the Random House Publishing Group each announced Thursday that they had signed up books about the scandal.

In 2010, HarperCollins will release an investigative work, currently untitled, by reporter-anchor Andrew Kirtzman, who has been featured on the New York television stations WCBS and NY1; Random House will publish a Madoff book, also currently untitled, by Richard Behar, a journalist who has written for Time, Fortune and other magazines.

"How We Decide" by Jonah Lehrer will be released in February by Houghton Mifflin. Lehrer also is the author of "Proust Was a Neuroscientist." He is the son of York native Jean Hively.

To read more about Lehrer, click here.

The paperback edition of "My Father's Heart: A Son's Reckoning with His Legacy of Heart Disease," by local author Steve McKee, will be released Feb. 1. To read more about McKee and his book, click here.

This just in from the Associated Press:

After eight years in Washington, Lynne Cheney plans to write about a politician she regards as "steady," "reserved" and given to working "from behind the scenes."

No, it's not a memoir about her husband, Vice President Dick Cheney, but a biography of James Madison.

Following were best-sellers at Borders Books & Music in Springettsbury Township for the week that ended Dec. 7.

1. "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" by J. K. Rowling.
2. "Breaking Dawn" by Stephenie Meyer.
3. "Eclipse" by Stephenie Meyer.
4. "The Christmas Sweater" by Glenn Beck.
5. "Multiple Blessings" by Kate Gosselin.

If you or someone on your holiday gift list is an avid traveler -- or wishes they were -- head on over to the Explorer's Backpack blog to check out this list of recommended reading.

Educational publishing house WorldScapes has released a book on Special Olympian Loretta Claiborne called "In Her Stride."

The life and accomplishments of York native Loretta Claiborne are profiled in the brief book "In Her Stride."

For more, check out York Town Square post : York native and Special Olympian Loretta Claiborne: 'Role model for others with disabilities'.

that books make great gifts, but now we can listen to famous authors tell us why.

Artist Bradley Schmehl's painting of the burning Wrightsville Bridge in 1863 serves as the focal point of the cover of Scott Mingus' forthcoming Civil War book.

Scott Mingus' detailed study of the Confederate occupation of York County, 'Flames beyond Gettysburg, in late June 1863 is moving along the printing trail.

Another forthcoming Mingus work follows one of the brigades that visited York County. "A Spirit of Daring: The Louisiana Tigers in the Gettysburg Campaign" will come from the LSU Press.

Gloria Fogal is the Daily Record/Sunday News books page editor. Nancy Duncan is a Daily Record/Sunday News staff librarian and the children's librarian at Red Land Community Library.

Nancy: What do readers really want for Christmas? More books! So, Gloria and I came up with our top five books of all time. Believe me, it wasn't easy limiting myself to just five titles.

Here are my favorites, in no particular order.

"Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett

The building of a 12th-century cathedral and all it entails. A huge, spellbinding book with ambition, sex and the struggle for power -- all that you want in a novel that will last a long time. A wonderful choice for a long, cold winter.

Daily Record/Sunday News

If you want to stay local with your holiday gift giving, here are some recently published books with local themes or local authors. Most are available at Borders Books & Music, 3000 Whiteford Road in Springettsbury Township or online.

"York: America's Historic Crossroads" (Schiffer Publishing) by Scott Butcher. This coffee table book includes more than 300 color photos, with chapter introductions and photo captions that showcase York's history, from its founding in 1741 to today. For sale at the Museum Shops of the York County Heritage Trust, 250 East Market St., Borders or amazon.com.

"My Father's Heart: A Son's Journey" by Steve McKee. This book does a lot of things, everything well. It's a memoir of growing up in York in the 1960s. It explores life in Haines Acres, showing a close-knit neighborhood. McKee's work touches on moments fishing at Muddy Creek and eating at Gino's and acquaints the reader with legendary York Catholic basketball coach Jim Forjan and the admired Cole Steel veep Otto Lewin. At Borders and online.

"My Favorite American" by Dennis McCloskey. A book about Valen Cover, a York County woman who, at 25, has endured an organ transplant, polycystic kidney disease, a seizure disorder, coliosis, pancreatitis and a motorcycle accident. "What impressed me most is her positive outlook on life and living," McCloskey said. At Borders and amazon.com.

The turn of the new millenium eight years ago brought with it an onslaught of books on the Civil War in York County.

Before 2000, only a handful of books probed the Civil War and York County and they consisted of chapters in larger works on the Gettysburg campaign.

The York Town Square post Books probing York County in the Civil War come in strong, sudden onslaught lists the dozen local Civil War books published in recent years.

That includes a recent publication on the Battle of Hanover.

As you prepare to buy books for gifts or just shop for something new for yourself, perhaps you'd like to consider what the New York Times book reviewers liked best of the hundreds of books they've seen this year. Here's a link to their picks http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/28/books/28bmaslw.html?_r=1&ref=books

You might want to check out this book by Philadelphia Daily News beer columnist Don Russell.

Perfect gift?

Check.

For the first part of my life I was a cat person. I enjoyed their independence and their superior attitude to all.

Then, five years ago my daughter brought home a puppy. It was the classic "isn't he cute, can we keep him" scenario. Well, I was hooked. I still love cats, but there is something about a dog's unabashed joy in life that gives them an edge in my estimation.

Book award winners, announced Nov. 19, from left: Mark Doty, poetry; Annette Gordon-Reed, nonfiction; Judy Blundell, young people's literature and Peter Matthiessen, fiction.

Judges for the National Book Award honored a comeback, giving the fiction award to Peter Matthiessen's "Shadow Country," a thorough revision of a trilogy of novels from the 1990s.
The nonfiction prize went to Annette Gordon-Reed for "The Hemingses of Monticello," while the poetry category was won by Mark Doty's "Fire to Fire." Former genre writer-for-hire Judy Blundell won in young people's literature, for "What I Saw and How I Lied."
For more on book awards http://features.csmonitor.com/books/2008/11/20/national-book-award-prizes-announced/

Greg Mortenson never made it to the top of K2, one of the Himalayas' most formidable peaks. But his mountain-climbing defeat turned into a victory over ignorance and illiteracy.
Because of him, thousands of Pakistani and Afghan children, including girls, can go to school. And it all started when he wandered into a remote village in Pakistan.

In September of 1939, Nazi bombers attacked Warsaw. One of the casualties was the Warsaw Zoo.

Local writer Scott Butcher has authored his first coffee table book, "York: America's Historic Crossroads" (Schiffer Publishing). This is the first of three photo books that Butcher is doing. "Delaware Reflections," with 250 photos of the Delaware Coast from Lewes to Fenwick Island, will be released this spring.

"The Horseshoe Curve: Sabotage and Subversion in the Railroad City" by Dennis P. McIlnay of Hollidaysburg received the Gold Medal as the Best Regional Nonfiction Book in the Mid-Atlantic Region from the Independent Association of America.

The children of Coretta Scott King and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. faced off in an Atlanta courtroom Tuesday. Their dispute over their mother's personal papers could derail a lucrative book deal.

Here's hoping Cornell professor Barry Strauss, whose narrative history of the Trojan War I enjoyed immensely, keeps writing books.

I recently read a similar history of his, "The Battle of Salamis: The Naval Encounter that Saved Greece -- and Western Civilization."

The Battle of Salamis was part of the war between Greece and Persia -- the same war that included the much better known Battle of Thermopylae (see book reviews here).

But whereas the Spartans' courageous stand at Thermopylae served as a holding party to keep the Persian forces from quickly advancing into the heart of Greece, Salamis served as the war's turning point. Its Gettysburg, in some ways.

Drew Peterson, the former Bolingbrook police sergeant tells all -- or maybe not -- in "Drew Peterson Exposed," from Canadian publisher Kunati Books.

I went to Borders the other day with a 25 percent off coupon clutched in my hand. (Borders Rewards sent me the coupon for my birthday. Aren't they sweet?)

I knew just what I wanted to get -- "The Zookeeper's Wife." It's about a Polish zookeeper and his wife who hid several hundred Jews from the Nazis during World War II. It got very good reviews.

Truth and Beauty by Ann Patchett

This book left me in wonder. I had to wonder at the depth and strength of Ann Patchett's friendship with Lucy Grealy, a fellow writer, but more than that I had to wonder that Lucy didn't give up sooner.

They are both writers. They meet in grad school. Oh, and Lucy is missing a big chunk of her face.

By BETH VRABEL
For the Daily Record/Sunday News

The smiling face on the cover of "My Favorite American" is the picture of youth and vitality.

Those who know Valen Cover also know how hard-won that seemingly easy smile is. At 25, over has endured an organ transplant, polycystic kidney disease (PKD), a seizure disorder, coliosis, pancreatitis and a motorcycle accident.

Once again, I picked a book at the library because it had a cute cover. Of course, the book turned out to be a wonderful read and a glimpse into the life of parents coping with a child born with a brain malformation that robs her of speech.

Robert Rummel Hudson is the author of the book and father to Schuyler (pronounced Skyler). He is a brilliant writer. He uses a humorous touch that left me laughing out loud and reading excerpts to my husband.

On Sept. 10, 2001, Alissa Torres was nearly eight months pregnant with her first child. Her husband, Eddie Torres, a Colombian immigrant who worked his way up from being a delivery boy, began a job as a currency broker for Cantor Fitzgerald at the World Trade Center.

Alissa became a widow the next day.

Seven years later, she has written a 210-page graphic memoir, or as she calls it, "an adult, literary comic book," about her marriage and first year as a widow and single mother. "American Widow" (Villard, $22) is illustrated by Sungyoon Choi.

Click here to read more about her book.

"Proust Was a Neuroscientist" by Jonah Lehrer was recently released in paperback.

The author, a Rhodes scholar who worked in the lab of a Nobel Prize-winning neuroscientist and was a line chef at Le Cirque 2000 and Le Bernardin restaurants, is also the son of York County native Jean Hively, a 1970 graduate of Red Lion Area Senior High School. When she converted to Judaism and got married about 30 years ago, her name became Ariella Lehrer. She lives with her family in Los Angeles.

In his book, Lehrer explores how artistic insights predicted scientific breakthroughs, particularly how Proust penetrated the mysteries of memory decades before neuroscientists.

I expanded my garden this year. I planted six tomato plants instead of two.

And after doing battle with a relentless groundhog and a legion of green hornworms, I managed a very nice harvest. (OK, I'm not ready to open a roadside stand, but there have been more than a few BLTs.)

Anyone who has ever tried to grow their own vegetables will get a chuckle from William Alexander's "The $64 Tomato: How One Man Nearly Lost His Sanity, Spent a Fortune and Endured an Existential Crisis in the Quest for the Perfect Garden." (This book would make great winter reading. You know, right before the seed catalogs arrive.)

A memoir by Sen. Joe Biden is now a best-seller.

According to the Associated Press:

A day after Sen. Barack Obama chose Biden as his running mate for the Democratic ticket, Biden's "Promises to Keep: On Life and Politics" was in the top 10 on Barnes & Noble.com and in the top 40 on Amazon.com.

It was so in demand that on Sunday it was listed as out of stock by both booksellers.

"We'll be reprinting," said Tom Perry, deputy publisher of the Random House Publishing Group, which released the memoir in the summer of 2007, several months after Biden announced his candidacy for president.

He's baacck!

Yes, Michael Moore is in the news again with a new book, "Mike's Election Guide 2008" (Grand Central, 260 pp., $13.99, paperback original), in stores Tuesday.

To read more about it, click here.

There's plenty of debate between historians regarding the events of Homer's Iliad and The Trojan War in general (see my review of Barry Strauss' book here), but there's probably even more debate over the events of Homer's Odyssey.

In his argument that Odysseus really did go on his adventure after the war, British historian Ernle Bradford takes a practical route: He uses his extensive, first-hand knowledge of the waters of the Mediterranean Sea.

Bradford spent many years of his life crossing those waters, both on bigger military boats in the Royal Navy during World War II and in smaller, private boats.

And, in his book "Ulysses Found," Bradford details his personal search for Odysseus' adventure.

Scott Butcher's "York's Historic Architecture" contains more than just pretty pictures about York County's intriguing buildings.

It puts forth all kinds of interesting factoids in the captions of its many photos.

For example, did you know that The Hermit House near Pleasant Acres in East York is so named because reclusive Curvin Houser subsisted there for years. He lived without modern amenities until well into the 20th century. The house 18th-century house is a private home today - with running water, plumbing and heat.

For more such tidbits from Butcher's book, see: Did you know? New photo book on York County's architecture gives fun facts, too.

By JOSEPH MALDONADO
For the Daily Record/Sunday News

It shouldn't surprise anyone that York County's architecture is as varied as the people who have made up its population over the years.

After all, York Town, as the city was known in 1741, predates this country's Declaration of Independence in 1776 by almost 35 years.

And yet, the 160 pages that fill Scott Butcher's new book, "York's Historical Architecture," are exactly that -- a surprise.

I just finished reading Richard Engel's "War Journal."

Engel, who has been reporting from Iraq since the beginning of the war, pulls no punches in this graphic account of war from the frontline.

I think every American owes it to himself to become as informed as possible about Iraq and what America is trying to do there. Engel's book is a good place to start.

To read a review by one of my co-workers, click here.

Can anyone recommend any other good books about Iraq?

When you go as far back as 1200 B.C., it becomes difficult to reconcile history from myth.

And it can be especially difficult when you're talking about ancient Greek history because the monumental collapse of the Bronze Age around 1100 B.C. resulted in a period of dark ages until 800 B.C. Much of the writing that existed before the dark ages were lost.

The little that survived can be found in bits and pieces from certain sources -- and the poetry of Homer.

In "The Trojan War: A New History," Cornell professor Barry Strauss attempts to give a history of that great ancient war using not only those few surviving written sources but also using archeological findings and the things we know about the Greeks other regional cultures of that time period. Plus, there are the texts written after the dark ages period that refer to the mythology (for example, Herodotus, Thucydides and Virgil).

This review is by staffer Teresa Cook:

My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor, Ph.D.

Jill Bolte Taylor was a brain scientist, when, at the age of 37, she suffered a massive stroke. But as part of her brain shut down, the other part allowed her to feel a deep inner peace.

The following new books recently arrived at my desk:

"Wide Awake" (Thomas Nelson, 240 pages, $19.99) by Erwin McManus: Feel like you are sleep walking your way through life? McManus wants you to wake up and live the life of your dreams by using five tools: dream, discover, adapt, expect, focus, create, enjoy and invest. The book is packed with stories from the Old and New Testaments that illustrate how and why each technique works. McManus also uses examples from his own very successful life as lead pastor and cultural architect of Mosaic, a Christian community in Los Angeles. Favorite quote: "God created the world for our enjoyment. We took the fun out of it."
"Wide Awake" is available at Borders Books & Music, 3000 Whiteford Road, Springettsbury Township, and from online booksellers.

By BETH VRABEL
For the York Sunday News

What do a literature professor, a bookstore owner and a former librarian have in common? In addition to knowing a thing or two about books, they are often asked for recommendations from other readers.

Here are some favorite titles, recommended by those who've made a career out of knowing what constitutes good reading.

Our readers are: Colbey Emmerson Reid, York College assistant professor of modern
literature; Irene Ritson, owner of Recycled Reader Used Bookstore in York; and Suzy Hershey, former Village Library librarian and member of two local book clubs.

From short stories to fill up a free afternoon to fine literature to come back to again and again, here are some titles to add to your collection, and a few gift ideas for other readers in your life. Their picks:

Local author John Coulson will sign copies of his new book, "Hanover Raiders: Minor League Baseball in Hanover, Pennsylvania," from 6 to 8 p.m. July 31 at Guthrie Memorial Library-Hanover's Public Library, 2 Library Place.

To read more about his book, click here: http://www.yorkblog.com/yorktownsquare/2008/07/hanover.php .

Review by Joan McInnis

"War Journal: My Five Years in Iraq" By Richard Engel. Simon & Schuster, New York. c. 2008.

You know his face and voice from the NBC nightly news reports about the war in Iraq, and now Richard Engel has put his experiences on paper for a vivid and horrifying tale of what it has been like to cover the war since it began.

In the process the reader comes to know the man as well as the reporter and what toll
his coverage has exacted. His marriage ended in divorce; he narrowly escaped kidnapping, lost fellow reporters to sudden death, and had his hotel room blown up around him as a suicide bomber struck his hotel.

It was no wonder the constant violence led to burn out.

I've heard of Gordon Ramsay and think I even saw a segment of his Fox show Kitchen Nightmares some time ago.

Bleep this and bleep that. He was pretty mean.

Then shortly after Gloria posted a summary of "Roasting in Hell's Kitchen" (which you can read here) she let me borrow it, knowing I enjoy food and writing about it.

And I learned a little.

If you're planning to travel at all this summer, you may want to check out these books to help get you through the journey.

For more travel tidbits, tips and tales, visit Explorer's Backpack.

As part of my campaign to visit every York Library, I checked out the books on tape section at the attractive and easily accessible Red Land Community Library.

See see what I found there and to see a little library history to boot, visit York County libraries offer serendipity - and have done so for decades at York Town Square blog.

Voni Grimes recounts his long life in his autobiography "Bridging Troubled Waters."

Voni B. Grimes, respected community leader, has labored for months to write about his long life.

The result is a 90-page book with more than 20 photos of a life well lived.

For details, see: New book gives insight into community leader Voni B. Grimes at York Town Square blog.

Windsor's centennial book is a snapshot - well, hundreds of them - of small-town life in York County.

A 300-plus page history book packed with photos can tell much about a town.

This 100th-anniversary book of Windsor borough provides a busy side of a town that seemingly can best be described as sleepy.

For long post on this thick book, view: Windsor: Home of 'stately old houses that may appear to be miniature castles' at York Town Square.

You may be familiar with chef Gordon Ramsay from his Fox reality show "Hell's Kitchen."

Or you may have seen him on the BBC America hits "Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares" and "The F Word."

But you really don't know him. Not until you read his book, "Roasting in Hell's Kitchen: Temper Tantrums, F Words and the Pursuit of Perfection."

Calling all gardeners!

Have you ever wanted to keep track of what you grow and how well it does in your garden so you know what to do next year?

Want to read a really scary book?

No, it's not a Stephen King, or a Dean Koontz or a Clive Baker.

It's a Richard Heinberg.

Speaking of summer reads, here are the top book-related searches on Yahoo!

Barnes&Noble.com has added three new features to its Barnes & Noble Studio multimedia site that are well worth a look.

In Guest Books, found out what writers read as authors talk about their top three favorite books. David Sedaris is featured this week.

5 Books selects five titles that will help readers sharpen their skills on a particular topic. Read all about wine.

The Book Files tells the story behind the book. This week’s featured book is James Joyce’s “The Dubliners.” Upcoming are Jerzy Kosinski’s “The Steps” and Dr. Seuss’ “Green Eggs and Ham.”

Visit http://www.barnesandnoble.com/bn-studio/videos-podcasts/index.asp?.

Daisy Myers' "Sticks 'N Stones," Mary Hamilton's "Rising from the Wilderness," and Carol McCleary Innerst's "York College of Pennsylvania" are three books that merit reading this summer - or any time of year.

For more details, see: Central Pennsylvania histories make smart part of summer reading stack over at sister blog, York Town Square.

I've been struggling to find time to read. So, when my mom passed "The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town" to me a few weeks ago, I was a little hesitant to accept.

I haven't read much of John Grisham, and I have stacks of other books I'm dying to delve into.
But, she is the woman who read to me night after night well into middle school and planted the reading seed in my soul, so I borrowed it.

While publishers pray for a new children's series as popular as Harry Potter and anxiously await Dan Brown's follow-up to "The Da Vinci Code," a report released today predicts a tight market for at least the next few years.

Those of you of a certain age (and you know who you are) who are members of AARP will want to check out Borders’ latest promotion.

Just go to www.borders.com and click on “Exclusive offer for AARP members.”

You can save from 10 to 35 percent on books purchased both online and at the store. And if you’re not a member, they will sign you up on the spot.

Occasionally getting older has its advantages.

Readers would rather curl up with a printed book than go online or read an e-book, a new Random House/Zogby poll finds.

An 800-word Harry Potter prequel is one of 13 card-sized works to be sold at a charity auction in London.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's latest book, "Days of Infamy," written with historian William Forstchen, debuted at No. 11 on the New York Times Fiction Best-seller list this week.

This comes on the heels of the success of Gingrich’s non-fiction work, "Real Change: From the World that Fails to the World that Works," which spent 12 weeks on the NY Times Non-Fiction Best-seller list.

Gingrich joins the ranks of only a handful of authors who made the fiction and non-fiction list in the same year.

Respected York Daily Record columnist Jim Hubley died Tuesday, but his work lives on for public enjoyment via his 1994 book "Off The Record, York County Life Through a Newsman's Eyes."

The 165-page book, published by the York Daily Record and the York County Heritage Trust, is packed with a sampling of the 1,300 columns he had written through 1994. It's out of print but is available via the York County Library System.

A sampling of his work is also available on the Web via the searchable blog yorktownsquare.com, particularly the post YDR columnist James A. Hubley: 'What I prefer is a simple, Jim.'.

So, what can you tell about a person from the books they check out from a library? I recently visited the Dover Area Community Library and, not intentionally, came away with six books that, taken together, probably say something about what's rambling through my mind these days. Or not. You make the call.

These are the six books I snagged:

"Lost Mountain" by Erik Reece. Synopsis: From Publishers Weekly: "Reece's up-close assessment of a rapacious coal industry is a searing indictment of how a country's energy lust is ravaging the hills and hollows of Appalachia. ... This process of 'mountaintop removal' left a barren wasteland that, months earlier, had supported songbirds, fox, deer and other wildlife, and a rich cover of trees."

"A Trip to the Beach" by Melinda and Robert Blanchard. Synopsis: A pair of Vermonters tell their tale of trying to open a restaurant on a little known island in the British West Indies.

After a lot of reading surrounding the Battle of Thermopylae and the Greco-Persian wars in general (see this previous post), I decided to check out one of the earliest sources.

So, I picked up "The Histories" by Greek historian Herodotus, specifically the Penguin Classics edition edited by Aubrey de Selincourt.

Herodotus was a historian when historians didn't really exist, making for plenty of claims that simply aren't true or are heatedly debated (thank goodness for notes) (and yes, I really do page back to check each note). His intentions are also debated, some modern historians arguing he knowingly fabricated parts of his "Histories"; others believing incorrect information merely came from faulty sources.

Fred Rosenmiller made the news recently for his donation of scores of valuable bottles, a vintage vehicle and other items to the York County Heritage Trust.

It might not be as well know that he and other bottle collectors wrote the book on bottles, York County bottles: "Bottles & Jugs".

Billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg will share what he has learned in business and government in a new book due out later this year.

Carol McCleary Innerst has written a book "York College of Pennsylvania" via Arcadia Publishing.

The title of pretty well explains the contents of this $19.95 picture book.

For a mini-reviews, see: New York College book provides insight into school, community on Yorktownsquare.com.

It’s rare that I take great pleasure in proofreading pages. But the other day I was asked to tackle our newest publication, “All In One Room: York County’s Schoolhouses.”

I have always loved looking at old photos — even when I didn’t know a soul in them. But “All In One Room” proved to be a gold mine of memories for me, someone too young to have attended one.

The Pulitzer Prizes in literature, announced Monday, went to:
Fiction: “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao,” by Junot Diaz (Riverhead Books)
General Nonfiction: “The Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939-1945,” by Saul Friedlander (HarperCollins)

Sometimes, as much as we hate it, we have to part with our books.

What else can we do when there just isn't enough shelf space for all our recent purchases?

My family's had a bit of a baby boom recently, with our baby boy born a year and half ago, three weeks after my sister gave birth to twins. So now we have three toddlers running about — and getting into trouble.

Not surprisingly, my sister is heading to the bookstore this week to choose a parenting book or two.

By ABIGAIL STOLLAR
Spring Grove Area Senior High School

In her personal memoir, “Eat Love, Pray,” Elizabeth Gilbert shares her journey through Italy, India and Bali.

Have you just finished reading a book you couldn't put down, or one that kept putting you to sleep?

We want to hear about it, good or bad.

Send your book review to gfogal@ydr.com and we will post it here.

While my husband watches basketball on television, my nose is in a book.

But now I’ve discovered that we literary types can get hyped with a March Madness of our own.

Oprah can indeed work wonders when it comes to selling books. And Eckhart Tolle’s "A New Earth" is her hottest book pick yet.

“Wonderful Tonight -- George Harrison, Eric Clapton, and Me” by Pattie Boyd with Penny Junor.

Pattie Boyd was married to two of the biggest rock stars and was the subject of the hit songs, “Something,” “Layla” and “Wonderful Tonight,” but her life, as she writes in her autobiography, doesn’t seem particularly charmed.

First of all, her childhood was rocked by her parents’ strange marriage, her father’s and later her stepfather’s infidelity and several moves to different countries and cities and schools.

Steve McKee

Steve McKee is a York Catholic grad and an editor for the Wall Street Journal.

His "My Father's Heart, A Son's Story" covers a lot of ground. It's a story about heart disease, the relationship between father and son, the painful aftermath of a loved one's death and a story about growing up in York in the 1960s... .

Two books offering new insights into the lives of three of the Civil War era¹s most compelling figures will share the 2008 Lincoln Prize, which is administered by Gettysburg College.

For their books about Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass and Robert E. Lee, the winners are James Oakes, a professor at the City University of New York, for "The Radical and the Republican: Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and the Triumph of Antislavery Politics," and diplomat/historian Elizabeth Brown Pryor for "Reading the Man: A Portrait of Robert E. Lee Through His Private Letters."

If you have ever walked through the woods or around the neighborhood, picked up an interesting looking rock and wondered how it got there, you may want to purchase a copy of a newly released book “TimeWalk – A Journey through Time in Adams, Lancaster and York Counties, Pennsylvania.”

Authored by Jeri Jones of Jones Geological Services in Spring Grove with illustrations by Tenna Byerts of Dover, the book is written for those new to geology.

By JOSEPH MALDONADO
For the Daily Record/Sunday News

A book is like a warm quilt comprised of many threads, colors, textures and images. And like any quilt, a book takes tremendous know-how to transform it from an idea to something people curl up with in their favorite chair.

In May, the literary group Pennwriters will host its 21st annual conference, “A Writer’s smorgasbord.” The three-day event will feature scores of publishing experts, including many pub
lished authors.

The book: “World War II Radio Heroes: Letters of Compassion” (Intrigue, $15.95)

The author: Lisa Spahr is a native of York County. She attended schools in he
Northern York County School District and graduated in 1991 from York County High School. She holds degrees in psychology and investigative psychology from Temple University and the University of Liverpool. She is the owner of Spahr Consulting, a life coach company based in Pittsburgh.

What it’s about: “During WWII men, women and children would tune into enemy radio to learn the fate of American GIs,” Spahr said. “Some of them would write letters and postcards to POWs’ families to alert them of their status. My grandfather, Robert May pahr, was a POW for 26 months. His mother learned of his imprisonment via 70 postcards and letters received from these radio listeners, all strangers to our family.”

“Can’t Buy Me Love – The Beatles, Britain, and America” by Jonathan Gould.

Since today is the 44th anniversary of the Beatles arrival in the United States on Feb. 7, 1964, I’m posting a review of a new Beatles book I just read.
When I, a true Beatlemaniac, started reading “Can’t Buy Me Love – The Beatles, Britain, and America” by Jonathan Gould, I was wondering if I’d learn anything new. I’ve read dozens of articles and books about the group, including Bob Spitz’s excellent biography, “The Beatles,” and the Anthology by the Beatles themselves.
But “Can’t Buy Me Love” gave me plenty new to think about.

Have you just finished reading a book you couldn't put down, or one that kept putting you to sleep?

We want to hear about it, good or bad.

Send your book review to gfogal@ydr.com and we will post it here.

Lisa Margonelli, an award-winning writer on global culture and the economy of energy, will discuss her new book, "Oil on the Brain," at 7 p.m. Feb. 5 in Leedy Theater of the Mund College Center at Lebanon Valley College, 101 N. College Ave., Annville.

Margonelli will explore the possibilities of a post-oil world. Her lecture is part of LVC's yearlong Energy Colloquium.

She is an Irvine Fellow at the New America Foundation and was the recipient of a Sundance Institute Fellowship and an excellence in journalism award from the Northern California Society of Professional Journalists. She has been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Wired, Business 2.0, Discover and Jane.

The book: “Lines of Contention: Political Cartoons of the Civil War” (HarperCollins under the Smithsonian imprint, $19.95)

The authors: Pam Huff and Jim Lewin of Hellam Township are the owners of the York Emporium used-book store, 343 W. Market St., York. Huff is a native of Washington, D.C., and Lewin is a native of the Buffalo, N.Y., area. They moved to York in January 2006.

Here's a review from one of our readers, Scott Mokris, 15, of West Manchester Township:

I’m an American! That’s what Bill O’Reilly’s new book “Kids Are Americans Too” says.

“Kids Are Americans Too” is an excellent book that tells kids what Constitutional rights they have and do not have. Bill O’Reilly does an amazing job telling kids about their rights and getting them interested in rights and the government.

Have you just finished reading a book you couldn't put down, or one that kept putting you to sleep?

We want to hear about it, good or bad.

Send your book review to gfogal@ydr.com and we will post it here.

On Feb. 12, HarperCollins will publish a memoir and policy book by former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, finished only a week before her assassination.

According to the Associated Press:

The publication of “Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy, and the West” has “the full support of her family and advisers,” according to a statement issued today by HarperCollins.

“No one could have known that these would be Benazir Bhutto’s final words, and somehow that makes them carry even more weight, especially at a time like this,” said HarperCollins Executive Editor Tim Duggan. “This book is her legacy.”

Bhutto, a rival of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, died Dec. 27 in a suicide bombing and shooting in the city of Rawalpindi. Bhutto was a pro-U.S. moderate who had vowed to fight Islamic extremists if elected in an upcoming parliamentary vote.

The book will include an afterword by her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, and her three children.

The York County Heritage Trust Museum Book Store is selling the new book, "Amish Grace, How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy," by Amish culture expert Professor Donald B. Kraybill.

The YCHT Museum Book Store is located at the Historical Society Museum & Library, 250 E. Market St., York.

The book gives an insightful view of how the Amish community dealt with the tragic death of six grade-school girls in a one-room school house in Nickel Mines, Lancaster County.

To order the book, call 717-848-1587, ext. 210, or stop by the Museum and pick one up. Cost is $19.95 plus tax. If mailed, shipping and handling will be added.

Denis Johnson, author of the Vietnam novel, “Tree of Smoke,” won the National Book Award for fiction Wednesday night.

According to the Associated Press:

New York Times reporter Tim Weiner won the nonfiction award for “Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA.” Robert Hass won the poetry award for “Time and Materials.”

Sherman Alexie won the award for young people’s literature, for “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.”

“Tree of Smoke” was widely considered the front-runner for the fiction award. Lauding Johnson’s novel as a “conventionally satisfying but formally daring masterpiece,” Harper’s reviewer John Jeremiah Sullivan described it as “a 614-page multigenerational, transnational, braided morality saga about Westerners in Southeast Asia and the Southeast Asians who have to figure out how to stay alive around them.”

Just 25, Lehrer has been a Rhodes scholar, worked in the lab of a Nobel Prize-winning neuroscientist and was a line chef at Le Cirque 2000 and Le Bernardin restaurants.

Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Norman Mailer, author of such books as “The Naked and the Dead” and “The Executioner’s Song,” died Saturday in New York. He was 84.

November is National Hospice Month and Heartland Hospice is celebrating by creating a library containing books about end-of-life care and its effect on family members.

The library contains a selection of books appropriate for children, teens and adults.

The community is invited to come to the office at 3417-C Concord Road, Springettsbury Township, to borrow books.

Here is a review from one of our readers, Pat Long of West Manchester Township:

Recently I read "Monkey Girl: Evolution, Education, Religion, and the Battle for America's Soul" by Edward Humes (2007). It was 350 pages of fascinating narrative describing the Dover school board's attempt to introduce "intelligent design" into the public school and the resulting trial.

Raymond Sechrist's "Skinny Dipping in the Codorus" has been available to the public since 1991, but it merits a look by those who have never read about Sechrist's boyhood adventures... .

By Gloria Jean Fogal

The book: “Are You Ineffective? Discovering and Resolving the 202 Sure Signs of Ineffectiveness” (Authorhouse, $23)

"When A Crocodile Eats the Sun," Peter Godwin's brilliant memoir of his family's experience
in present day Zimbabwe, refers to a native belief that whenever a solar eclipse occurs, the crocodile snuffs out the life-giving light of the sun. And it is an apt metaphor for Zimbabwe, where
the dictator Mugabe has driven a once economically booming country to collapse and snuffed out all opposition.

Multiply that abandoned feeling a few thousand times to understand the protagonists in two excellent books -- “Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier” and “What is the What.”
Both boys are torn from their families and never stop looking for home.

I’ve always been curious about what makes an idea stick. Why is it that I will forever remember the Where’s the beef? ad campaign or Jared the Subway guy or the urban legend about the guy who ends up in an ice-filled bathtub with a note telling him to call 911 because his kidney has been harvested.

As a parent, I have many ideas I want to convey to my sons. But how do I design an idea that they will remember?
Two brothers to the rescue. Chip and Dan Heath wrote “Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die.” Chip is a professor of organizational behavior in the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. Dan is a consultant at Duke Corporate Education. He was a former researcher at Harvard Business School and is the co-founder of Thinkwell, an innovative new-media textbook company.
These two brothers break down the stickiness of an idea and look at how we can transform the way people think and act. They use examples, such as the beef ad and Jared and the kidney heist to illustrate their points. We learn the six qualities of an idea that is made to stick.
I’ve already used examples from this book with my boss and staff. It’s a great read and one of those books that I will refer to over and over again. This is one book that will stick!

Have you just finished reading a book you couldn't put down, or one that kept putting you to sleep?

We want to hear about it, good or bad.

Send your book review to gfogal@ydr.com and we will post it here.

It’s All About Him (Finding the Love of My Life) by Denise Jackson

I’m a celebrity watcher. No, not just a celebrity watcher - I’m a nosy celebrity watcher. I’m the one who wants to know why Usher’s mother didn’t go to his wedding (either of them), what Faith Hill really said to that female fan who grabbed her hubby by his crotch as he left the stage, and whether Prince William is really going to ask Kate Middleton to marry him.

Here is a review from one of our readers, Judy Wolfman of York:

I just finished reading "Hands Upon My Heart," by local author Perry Foster, and all I can say is WOW! Perry's personal account of what he experienced before, during and after his quadruple heart bypass surgery is a gripping story that wouldn't allow me to put the book down.

With the holidays approaching (yes, it's only September, but the holidays will be here before you know it), we're getting information about many of the new sports books that are coming out this fall.

Many of them could serve as great gifts for sports fans.

One new title is "Playing for Paterno" -- which is unique because it's co-authored by a father and son who both played for Joe Paterno at Penn State. The authors are Charlie Pittman, who played for the Nittany Lions in 1960s, and Tony Pittman, who played in Happy Valley in the 1990s. Between the two of them, they played on three of Paterno's five unbeaten teams.

According to the dust jacket of this book, which came out earlier this month: "Off the field, the Pittmans applied the lessons they learned from Paterno to achieve success in the business world."

"Playing for Paterno" is published by Triumph Books.

I always tell my kids that little things can mean a lot. In Malcolm Gladwell’s “The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference,” we learn that little changes can have big effects.

This is an amazing book about how ideas, products, behaviors and messages spread, often starting with a few people, just like viruses until they reach a critical mass or “tipping point.”

I couldn’t put this book down. Gladwell uses examples from history (Paul Revere), fashion (the rebirth of Hush Puppies shoes), etc. to illustrate his point.

"90 Minutes in Heaven: A True Story of Death and Life” by Don Piper and Cecil Murphey

This book is not only for people who believe in heaven, but also for those who don’t.

The Rev. Don Piper was driving home from a conference when he was hit by a tractor-trailer. He and his car were so mangled that the police and EMTs pronounced him dead. As they waited for a coroner to arrive to officially pronounce him, the Rev. Dick Onerecker, another minister from the same conference, came upon the accident.

Al Gore is going to tell us some more inconvenient truths. And Rodale of Emmaus, Pa., will again publish them.

What to eat?

In this age of mercury-laden fish and E. coli-tainted spinach, aren’t we all asking what we should be feeding our families?

Marion Nestle to the rescue!

and 'Lipstick Jihad' By Azadeh Moaveni

These memoirs by two very different women explore the plight of women in the Muslim world.

Deborah Rodriguez was a survivor of a hardscrabble existence in middle America and left an
abusive second marriage to get a college degree.

She took a position with an NGO that sent her to Afghanistan.

There she found that her early training in her mother's beauty salon was a highly prized skill in a country where women had been concealed beneath oppressive burkhas during the Taliban regime.

Dozens of foreign editions of Anne Frank’s diary line a wall of the gift shop at Amsterdam’s Anne Frank House. Here, from the center to the right, are the Hungarian, Greek and Bulgarian translations.

Who doesn’t like to go? To see faraway places, all bright and new and full of wander.

And travel books, full of photos, full of lists, pocket-size or coffee table-huge — all to entice armchair travelers to exchange dollars and ... POOF! ... change into an on-site and insightful tourist.

But these handy volumes aren’t my favorite or even my first choice as a guide to a city or a country. Some of my brightest memories come from time spent in places about which I’ve read years before.

As a teen, Anne Frank’s diary spoke to me of a young girl caught in a war, hiding in an attic not of her choosing.

A mention of "Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson came in a really casual staff meeting and the title just grabbed my attention. The story of a murderer amongst the happy buzzing of the Chicago World's Fair of 1893 was just too good to pass by.

Scott Mingus has a new blog and a soon-to-be-published new book.

His specialty is regional Civil War history, fueled by his work on "Flames Beyond Gettysburg." His book will follow the expedition of Confederate Gen. John B. Gordon to the west bank of the Susquehanna River in late June 1863. ...

If you’ve ever wondered what goes on in the kitchens of fancy restaurants, or why people decide to spend their lives preparing food for others to eat, you’ll want to read Bill Buford’s book, “Heat.”

The York County Heritage Trust has just released a hardcover biography of J.W. Gitt, controversial owner of The York Gazette and Daily from 1915 to 1970.

Mary Allienne Hamilton, for years the foremost authority on Gitt, is the author of this 342-page book. She worked for Gitt in the 1960s and went on to a long career as journalism professor at St. Bonaventure University... .

My book club read this book by Joan Dideon last month and we had mixed feelings about it.

It looked so promising... she's a well-known writer, it won a National Book Award, good reviews, they did a version of it for Broadway....

But somehow, it didn't quite live up to what many of us were expecting.

"Eat, Pray, Love"

Yep, that about describes my day.

The minute I heard the title of Elizabeth Gilbert's book, I knew I had to read it.